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Ferry communters should grow up

Sometimes adults can behave worse than a brood of 3-year-olds on a Mountain Dew and Twinkie high. Nowhere is that more obvious than on the 5:30 p.m. ferry from Seattle to Bremerton that, according those who have to rely on it, has become a free-for-all.

To date, there have been 111 compliaints of various sorts about the ferries, some including fisticuffs over seats. Imagine that: grown, so-called responsible adults fighting over seats. We cant help but wonder if those adults are as embarrassed for themselves as we are for them.

All that is needed here is a little common courtesy. Remember all those behavior tips we teach toddlers?

Keep your hands to yourself.

When you get angry, use your words and talk to people instead of hitting. Hitting is not nice.

Dont take things that arent yours. In the case of the Seattle/Bremerton ferry run, dont lay down and take three seats if you are only one person. That, too, is not nice.

Be polite. On the ferry, that means that smokers shouldnt blow their smoke in non-smokers faces. Its unhealthy, unsanitary and just flat-out rude.

What we all have to remember here is that everyone has the same rights. If everyone would exercise common decency and a little bit of polite behavior, all would be well.

There is absolutely no excuse for adults to exhibit behavior that even toddlers know isnt acceptable.

Grow up.

Many of the commuters are complaining that the staff of the Washington State Ferry System doesnt interfere when the commuters are fighting. It should not be the employees place to do so. The employees are not referrees, nor are they ringmasters.

The commuters should not put the employees in the uncomfortable position to have to risk harm to keep things calm.

Commuters should be self-policing.

Ater all, if they are old enough to have to commute, common sense would dictate that they are old enough to know the rules of a decent society.

When in doubt, commuters should behave in a manner that would make their mothers proud. For that matter, commuters should behave as though their mothers are looking over their shoulders.

That means keeping their hands to themselves, using words instead of hitting, not taking things that arent theirs and being polite.

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